


Locum Tenens

by Cass_iopeia



Series: Unconformities [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Black 2 & White 2 | Pokemon Black 2 & White 2 Versions
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Canon Compliant, Chatlogs, Chatting & Messaging, Cults, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Homestuck References, I promise it's not as grim as it sounds, Medication, Minor Original Character(s), Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pokemon Battles, Sibling Rivalry, Smoking, Team Plasma (Pokemon), Teenage Stupidity, blink and you'll miss them references, but in a fun way, but like, for now, im going to fix that, religious trauma, there is a stunning one work under the Rosa/Nancy tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28012245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cass_iopeia/pseuds/Cass_iopeia
Summary: [lōkəm ˈtenenz]Full form of Locum.A person who stands in temporarily for another of the same profession.- - -"I wonder if Team Plasma counts as a cult." Nate wondered aloud."Oh, absolutely." Hugh said. "I'm surprised you're not even more fucked up than you already are."Nate gave him the driest, flattest, most withering look he could muster. "Your tact is astounding."- - -
Relationships: Bel | Bianca/Cheren, Hyuu | Hugh & Kyouhei | Nate, Kyouhei | Nate & Mei | Rosa, Mei | Rosa & Original Female Character, Mei | Rosa/Ruri "Rukko" | Nancy "Yancy"
Series: Unconformities [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2151153
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [UndeadProwess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndeadProwess/gifts).



> “Y’know, I don’t think it would be…too..bad to be a trainer.” Rosa whispered.
> 
> \- - -
> 
> To UndeadProwess: thanks for giving me the inspiration to dig this out of my drafts and finally publish it. Your fics really helped me get through quarantine :)

Nate woke up with a gasp, his bed soaked with sweat, the memories of his nightmare disappearing like sand through his fingers.

The tv was on, harsh blue light spilling over the walls. Rosa was on her bed across from him sitting cross-legged, her eyes glazed over as she numbly watched some crude, late night cartoon.

“Couldn’t sleep either?” His voice was raspy.

“Mmm, no.” She muttered. “I keep seeing—”

“Ghetsis.” He muttered.

Both of them winced at the name.

She ran a hand through her hair, long enough to drape across her thighs when she was sitting. It was in a horrible state, matted with grease, and tangled horribly from being neglected. He doubted his looked any better.

She giggled quietly. “Look at us.” She muttered. “It’s been almost two years and we’re _still_ f-f-f- _fucked_ up over this.

Again, they both winced in tandem at the swear.

“Throw me the remote?”

After some arguing, they both surprisingly decided on the battle channel. Since it was so late, they were showing reruns of old tournament battles from Johto and Hoenn. It was slightly strange to see a young Sabrina, and even younger Flannery square off in the finals.

“Wow…” Rosa muttered as they watched Sabrina’s gardevoir go down to a solar beam from Flannery’s Magmortar. “Setting up sunny day before using solar beam? That’s really cool.” They were sitting side-by-side on Rosa’s bed, a shared blanket draped across their laps.

“Yeah but check it out. It went down with a smile.” Nate added.

True to his word, there was a slightly creepy grin on gardevoir’s face as Sabrina returned it, before sending out her ace, alakazam.

“Ace versus ace.” Nate muttered.

“Both down to one pokémon.” Rosa muttered back.

Something flashed on Sabrina’s person, as she held up something in her fist, streams of energy trailing from it, latching onto alakazam. The camera was obscured with light for about 5 seconds before it cleared, and the sight made both of their jaws drop.

Alakazam had changed drastically, now floating several feet above the air, and was sporting a long, flowing white beard. Five spoons hovered above it in an arc, and a shiny red stone had appeared on its forehead.

 _“There it is!”_ The announcer cried. _“Sabrina’s famous mega alakazam! For those watching unfamiliar with the phenomenon, it is truly a sight to behold! Watch as it’s psychic powers increase tenfold!”_

Flannery looked like Christmas had come early. A wide smile had spread across her face, her teeth bared excitedly. “Magmortar, let’s do this! Fire blast, quickly!”

Only, this one didn’t burn nearly as brightly as the one before, and it was slightly smaller. Alakazam dodged it easily.

“Nasty plot, and then psychic.” Sabrina said quietly. “End this.”

It was over as soon as she gave the order, and powerful wave of energy, strong enough to rock the stadium, rolled over Magmortar, and sending it flying back into a wall.

 _“And the match is decided! Victory goes to Sabrina of Kanto!”_ The MC roared, the entire stadium cheering with him. _“And in case you missed, gardevoir’s final move was memento, drastically reducing both magmortar’s attack and special attack!”_

Sabrina bowed gracefully as Alakazam glowed again, before reverting to it’s original form, and teleported to stand next to her.

Flannery had her fists clenched as she returned magmortar, and murmured something to its pokéball, frustrated tears forming at the corner of her eyes. She crossed the field quickly, until she was standing in front of Sabrina, and offered her hand.

“It was a good battle. We’ll train even harder to beat you next time!” There was a fire burning in her eyes (no pun intended) and her smile was just as wide as before.

Sabrina smirked. “We’ll see.”

The program cut to a commercial advertising something at the pokémart, but they were both too dumbstruck to pay much attention.

“So that’s a league battle.” Nate muttered. “It’s a lot less…”

“Less terrible than the propaganda and lies G-Ghetsis fed us?” Rosa snarked.

“…I guess I just wanted to see for myself.” He muttered again. “It’s not nearly as…brutal. A-and they looked like they were having fun.”

Rosa was silent as she stared at the tv.

“Y’know, I don’t think it would be…too..bad to be a trainer.” Rosa whispered, startling Nate. “I…I want to—”

“To know.” Nate finished for her. “I feel the same.”

Her head snapped toward him. “Wait, really?!”

He shrugged. “I don’t think it’s right for us to just waste away here. We already spent two years being absolutely terrible.” He gestured to the utter state that their room was in.

Nate’s sheets hadn’t been washed in months, and their clothes were sitting in a giant, joint heap on the ground, blocking the closet, and dozens of empty cups and bowls littered every surface. Rosa’s collection of miscellaneous objects was lined up on the closed windowsill, including a broken pokéball, a lone earring, and a movie ticket stub. 

“…We should at least attempt to clean first.” She said.

Neither of them moved.

“…We can clean tomorrow.”

\- - -

  * \- -



“How do you become a trainer anyway?” Nate asked the next morning.

The blinds had been thrown open, much to Rosa’s disdain, fully illuminating their pigsty of a room. They both cringed at how bad it actually was. Some of the dishes had even grown _mold,_ much to Nate’s disgust.

Suddenly, their door slammed open.

“YOU TWO HAVE BEEN IN HERE LONG ENOUGH!” A voice roared.

It was Ms. Camila, with a slightly crazed expression, and a bundle of fabric in her arms.

“You two are getting a pokemon today whether you like it or not! Now take a shower and get dressed!” She threw the bundle she was holding at them. “No buts!” She added, before sweeping out of the room.

The door slammed shut again, making the dishes rattle.

“Mother, as headstrong as usual.” Rosa grumbled, and held up the shirt she was given. “Wait, are these new?”

“Never mind that!” Rosa balked at Nate’s exclamation as he seized her shoulders. “Rosa, we’re getting a pokémon!” He whooped and released her. “This literally solves all of our problems!”

“I feel like you’re a lot more excited about this than I am.” She said dryly, picking up the clothes she was given. “I’m gonna shower first.”

He blinked. “Yeah, I don’t know where that came from.” That brief fluttering of joy had disappeared, but it had felt nice. “But still. This _is_ really convenient.”

“Well,” Rosa tossed her clothes into their shared bathroom. “I call first shower. I’ll let you know when I’m done.”

Nate waved her off, and collapsed on her bed, and inspected his new clothes. A short-sleeved jacket, shorts, a fucking _wetsuit_ for some reason, and a bag roughly the same size as his entire torso. What the fuck was Ms. Camila thinking?

…He kind of liked it.

He felt like it was missing something though.

The thought persisted as Rosa finally emerged from the bathroom in a burst of steam, her skin lightly pink from the water as she picked at her clothes. They suited her much more than Nate had thought they would, but he was also struck with the thought that something was missing from it too. The pastels made her sickly pale skin look a lot better than it actually was.

Nate’s complexion made him look like a washed-out piece of teakwood, so he probably didn’t have much room to judge, however.

“Shower’s free.” She yawned, fiddling with one of her sleeves. “I used like, all of the shampoo though.”

Nate wrinkled his nose at her playfully. “You probably needed it a lot more than me.”

“Blech, go shower you a-ass.” Rosa tripped over the curse again and stalked over to the dresser where she pulled out an orange bottle. It rattled when she shook it. “Don’t forget about this either.”

Nate made a face. “I'd rather not." 

Rosa rolled her eyes and popped one in her mouth, swallowing it dry, before offering it to him. “If you want to deal with debilitating panic attacks, be my guest. Just be glad we’re already down to one a day instead of 4.”

Nate grimaced again and snatched it out of her hands. “Fine.”

“That’s the spirit. Take your drugs and then a shower.”

“One day,” Nate swallowed his pill. “I’m gonna cut your hair off in your sleep.”

Rosa threw a pillow at him.

The shower was a must needed relief, soaking his sore muscles, and relaxing him somewhat. When he returned to their room, fully dressed, Rosa was struggling with her hair, several bobby pins sticking out of two messy buns on each side of her head.

“Do you need help?”

“…Yes.” Rosa sighed. “I saw someone on tv with this hairstyle, so…” Her face was slowly turning red. “ItlookedprettyandIwantedtotryit!”

Nate laughed. “Well, it looks _great_.”

Rosa glared. “Shut up a-asshole. Shut up and help me.”

“Since you asked soooo nicely…”

He pulled a chair to sit behind her and started to work on her hair.

  * \- -



_“Nate, can you braid my hair?”_

_He looked up from the yoyo he was playing with, to see Rosa standing in the doorway, her hood off._

_He nodded, and put the toy back in the box he found it in. Her footsteps echoed on the polished marble floor of Team Plasma’s castle, and the chailmail of her armor clinked with each movement._

_He pulled a chair in front of him, and she sat robotically, her hands folded on her stomach. Rosa’s back was ramrod straight._

_“You can relax.” Nate said, his hand combing through her hair. “It’s just me.”_

_There was a beat of silence, before she sagged forward and sighed deeply._

_“We robbed a daycare today.” She muttered. “I felt strange afterwards. Like there was a sinking hole in my heart.”_

_Nate separated her hair gently. “Was it sadness? Guilt? You know you should talk to the goddesses about that.”_

_She shook her head minutely. “Whenever I do, they always make me take pills.”_

_Nate’s hands stilled. “What?”_

_“Pills, Nate. Like what we take every mornin—”_

_“I know what pills are. Why are they giving you more?” He pressed._

_“Concordia said that bad feelings corrupt. She said that I needed help to get rid of the corruption. A servant of Lord N should be pure.”_

_“You don’t sound very happy about it.”_

_“…I’m not.” She spread her arms, gesturing to their room. “Look around Nate! Ghetsis preaches a perfect world, but we live in a gilded cage! When was the last time we were allowed to leave the castle outside of those terrible missions?”_

_“…”_

_Nate finished her braid and tied it with a rubber band._

_Someone knocked on the door._

_Rosa stood quickly, distancing herself from Nate, and sitting on her cot on the corner of the room, her face closed off._

_“Come in.” Nate said._

_It was Annie._

_“Rosa!” She sang, ignoring the tense atmosphere. “Lord Ghetsis himself has called for you!” She gushed. “What an honor, especially at your age! My, when I was 13, I had barely—"_

_Rosa clenched her jaw and stood. “I’m humbled by this great honor.” She interrupted stiffly, and stood, turning to Nate. “I’ll see you later, Nate.”_

_The door shut with finality._

  * _\- -_



“What are you thinking about?” Rosa asked.

“Nothing.” He said. “Finished.”

Rosa perked up. “Thank you! They look great!”

Nate smirked. “Of course they do. I’ve been doing your hair since we were children.”

Rosa swatted at him playfully. “Yeah yeah. Let’s hurry up and get out of here.”

  * \- -



“Truth and Ideals! You both look so much better!" Camila wailed, sweeping them into a hug. “Rosa! You took a shower! And Nate! You look like a real person!” She held them at arm’s length. “I’m so proud of you two!”

Nate self-consciously touched the half-hearted effort he he had put into his hair. “Thanks? I think…”

Camila released them, before she shoved something wrapped in parchment paper into their hands. “You’ll be meeting a woman named Bianca. I was told she has a rather large green hat, and that was it.”

Rosa cocked an eyebrow. “Really? That’s all?”

Camila shook her head, either annoyed or amused. “Aurea has never been one to “look before she leaps”, as the saying goes.” She at least had the good sense to look slightly sheepish. “Sorry about springing this on you. I just think it would be good for the both of you to get out of my house and see the world. I’m starting to get rather worried.” She lowered her voice slightly. “Especially with how slowly you two had been coming off of the medication.”

Camila was their only saving grace getting out of Plasma. She was old enough to pass as their mother, as well as with connections to a sympathetic realtor who had a vacant home in Aspertia. Really, the only hard part was smuggling themselves out of hell before the devil caught them.

Camila was wearing her work uniform, and was adjusting the nurse’s cap on her head. “Well, I’ll see you little rascals around. Hopefully then I’ll be able to meet your new pokémon!” Her eyes snapped to a box sitting on the dinner table. “Ah, yes! Before I forget!”

Inside were two Xtransceivers, shiny and brand new. Nate felt like he would get it dirty just looking at it.

Rosa seemed to be having similar trepidations, because her hand shook when she went to pick it up.

“Mom, I can’t—”

Camila shook their protests off. “Nonsense! I want to spoil you two! You’re finally experiencing the world like you should, not behind the stained-glass windows of the castle.”

“It sounds so flowery when you say it like that.” Nate mumbled, but wrapped his new Xtransceiver around his wrist. “Is your number already programmed?”

“Yep! Just give me a ring of you need any help! I’m off to work, love you!”

She smacked a kiss onto both of their foreheads before sweeping out the door.

“Sooo…” Rosa drawled. “I believe we have a woman to see about a pokémon.”

It took them three tries too even step outside, much less start looking.

Rosa was huddled to his side, her hand in his as they slowly made their way through Aspertia. What Camila shoved into their hands turned out to be breakfast, a toasted English muffin stuffed with egg and melty cheese, and it tasted _so_ much better than the ramen cups they’d bee sustaining themselves on for the past two years.

“You think if we left our rooms more than once a month, we’d get more food like this?” Rosa said through a mouthful.

Nate hummed. “Maybe.” He made a big show of looking around. “You see her anywhere?”

Rosa giggled and wiped her mouth. “No. Maybe we should ask someone for help?”

“Rosa, literally no one in town has ever seen us before. I highly doubt--”

“OI!” A voice interrupted. “You’re Ms. Camila’s kids, right?”

“…Or not.”

Their verbal assailant was a boy, probably a year older than him with a younger girl following him around, most likely his sister. He had spiky black hair, red clothes, and what looked like a permanent case of resting bitch face. Hesitantly, they both approached him. His features were delicate upon closer expression, with an upturned nose, and his red eyes were rather striking under his thick eyebrows.

“We are.” Rosa said. “Whaddya want?”

“You’re looking for Bianca, right?” He said, “I think I know where she is.”

“Oh, that’s pretty convenient!” Rosa said, but her grip tightened on Nate’s hand. Paranoia had protected them before, and they weren’t about to stop now. “How’d you know our mom anyway? I’ve certainly never seen you around before.”

He gestured behind him at the red roof of the pokémon center. “She literally won’t shut up about you.” He shuffled his feet, suddenly looking bashful. “Me, and, uh, Bromus like to train in the tall grass sometimes, and Ms. Camila heals him up. We’re not very strong though! We’re um, still working on that.”

As if on cue, a pokéball sitting on his belt burst open, and a scrappy looking snivy stood before them, with the same uncanny resting bitch face of his trainer.

“You look alike.” Nate blurted out. “Did you hatch him yourself?”

Hugh blinked, surprised at the question. “Uh yeah. How’d you know?”

Nate scratched the back of his neck, now the one feeling bashful. “Oh, I read an article a while back about how hatched pokémon sometimes resemble the person who hatched them.”

“Ethan Hibiki, right?” Hugh asked, bending down so that Bromus could climb up his arms and wrap around his neck.

“I think so. It was by some big-name breeder from a magazine.”

“Not that this isn’t absolutely riveting,” Rosa drawled. “But we really need to meet this Bianca lady. Do you or do you not know where she is?”

“Oh! My bad.” Hugh’s face flushed slightly. “Yeah, it’s just over here…Suzanne, watch the house for me, alright?”

“Sure thing.” His sister said. “Hey, when you two get your pokémon, make sure to take good care of them, okay?”

It seemed like an innocent enough statement, but it gave Hugh pause. “Y-yeah.”

Silently, he beckoned for them to follow.

Aspertia City was much nicer than their pitiful window view gave it credit for. The walkways were nice and clean, the air was fresh, and the apartments were lined up in neat little rows. It was the perfect place to buy your first home, start a family, or escape a childhood of terrorism and trauma. Fun stuff.

But Hugh led them towards a part of town they’ve never been, and more densely populated with tourists. Rosa clung to Nate even tighter, her nails digging into his palm. He’d be lying of he said he wasn’t as nervous, however, the crowd setting him on edge. Funny, ever since they started decreasing the amount of medication they took, feelings like anxiety and sadness came more naturally to them. Before, everything was rather muted, like his brain was operating through a thick wall of cotton.

Hugh spared them a few glances no doubt curious. Nate couldn’t exactly fault him for it. They’ve never even left the house until today, too busy being cooped up and depressed. Camila had called them shut-ins more times than he could count, but she still let them live in her house and occasionally cooked them food when they felt comfortable enough to all be in the same room together.

Things were getting better for them however. Two years ago, if you asked Rosa to leave the house, she most likely would’ve had a silent panic attack before hiding in the bathroom. Nate doubted his reaction would be any better, considering how jumpy he was the first week living with Camila. Now they were actually walking around the city and talking to strangers. Surely events such as these were the ones that threw the universe out of balance, or ripped a hole in the space-time continuum, or whatever those shitty sci-fi movies that he watched at 3am would say.

Rosa snorted, and he suddenly realized he said some of that aloud.

“Uh…”

“Huh, Camila r _eally_ wasn’t lying about you two being shut-ins.” Hugh said.

Rosa giggled some more, and Nate just frowned. “I didn’t mean to say all that.”

Rosa swatted his arm. “Whatever, it was funny.”

“We’re here by the way.” Hugh said, gesturing toward a set of stairs leading up. ‘There’s an observation deck up there. If she’s anywhere, it’s here.”

“Thanks a lot Hugh.” Rosa said, tugging Nate’s arm. “Come on, time to get our pokémon.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Nate’s lips quirked up in a small smile. “See you around?”

“Y-yeah! Totally!” Hugh looked nervous again for some reason. He practically tore back to his house, muttering under his breath.

“He’s weird.” Rosa said, tugging him more insistently. “Come _on.”_

Sometimes it’s easy to forget Rosa’s the older one between them when she acts like this. She stuck her tongue out at him when he vocalized this to her.

“I’m 14.” He pressed playfully as the climbed the steps. “And yet you cling to me like a little sister.”

“It’s not my fault you’re built like a beanpole!” She shot back.

Nate did tower over a lot of people, but he mostly felt awkward and bony. He’s seen people like Concordia and Anthea who wielded their height with slender grace and beauty. They looked ethereal. Nate looked like someone stretched him like a piece of taffy.

“Evolutional advantages.”

They did find Bianca, who had her face glued to one of those binocular things, ooh-ing and ah-ing at the scenery. Nate couldn’t blame her, the view was magnificent. Bitterly, he realized it was exactly what Ghetsis used to promise them, pristine mountain peaks that jutted above the clouds, and crisp, untouched snow as far as the eye could see. He squashed that line of thought to get rid of the nasty look he was accidentally pointing at Bianca, who had jumped when she noticed them.

“Oh hello!” She greeted, hefting the cylindrical object she was holding. “You must be Nate and Rosa!”

“In the flesh and blood.” Nate said, slightly awkwardly. “Bianca, right?”

“Oh yes! Professor Juniper sent me to deliver your new pokémon!” She said excitedly. “There are a few choices of course, your mother spared nothing." She presented a cylindrical case she was holding, and pressed a button on the side. She pointed to the first pokéball. "This is a snivy," Her hand moved left. "This is tepig," Her hand moved to the last one. "And this is oshawott! All three are grass, fire, and water respectively."

Nate stared at them, tucked behind the glass case, all prettied up. He knew the feeling. It didn't really matter what he chose, all that mattered was that he was finally leaving. 

He settled his gaze on the one on the right. "I'll take oshawott."

"I'll take tepig." Rosa piped up.

“Well that certainly makes my job easier!” Bianca laughed, before holding out two pokéballs. “Go on, they won’t explode or anything.”

It was shiny and new, catching the afternoon light on it’s silver release button. Such an unassuming object, and yet…

Nate could hardly disguise the shudder in his hand as he carefully grasped it in his palm. It was _warm_ , which shocked him into almost dropping it. He could feel it, the tiny pulsing of something alive in his cold, shaky hands. Rosa handled it with much more grace but with an air of reverence. She could feel it too, the fragile life cupped in her palms.

Bianca giggled, making them both look up. “Sorry, it just reminds me of when I was younger." She cleared her throat. "Would you like to give your pokémon a nickname?"

Nervously exchanging a look with Rosa, Nate released his new companion. 

It blinked up at him with wide eyes and stumbled on awkward feet. He carefully knelt down until they were eye level, and it's silver eyes reflected the sunlight. He absentmindedly checked the name on the black strip on the pokéball. 

_Oshawott, lvl 5, female._

_known moves: Tackle, Tail Whip_

_Modest Nature_

"How do you like the name Luna?" He murmured. 

Luna seemed to like it, before reaching out to hug his leg. Nate resolved that if anything happened to Luna, he would kill everyone in Aspertia and then himself. 

"Well, my turn!" Rosa said, still a touch anxious, before releasing hers. 

The tepig was small, and aggressive, immediately headbutting her shin, surprising a short bark of laughter out of Rosa. She lowered herself until she was sitting cross-legged, the tepig eying her curiously. She peered at the pokéball for a few seconds before setting it aside, and giving all her attention to it.

"How do you like the name Eliza?" She asked.

Nate tried to cover up his laugh with a cough. Rosa whirled around to face him.

"It's a strong beautiful name for a strong, beautiful lady!" She said defensively. 

"No no, it just--" Nate laughed again. "It's so _you."_

Eliza seemed to agree as well, and headbutted her knee, making a low crooning sound in the back of her throat. Rosa's cheeks flushed as she let out a high-pitched whine before scooping Eliza up in her arms and cuddling her to her chest. "Gods above I would _kill_ for you!" She squealed. 

Bianca giggled. "They're small but strong. My first pokémon battle destroyed my friends bedroom, y'know." She produced something from her coat pocket that beeped when she turned it on. "This is a pokédex. Now, normally I would give a whole speech about helping me and the professor complete the pokédex, but I feel like you two just want to have fun." 

Nate took his gingerly, and jumped when it beeped again. 

_Oshawott, Sea Otter Pokemon_

_Water type_

_It fights using the scalchop on it's stomach. In response to an attack, it retaliates immediately by slashing at the opponent._

Nate's eyes glittered greedily as he absorbed the information. Height, weight, eating habits, everything was there. He could scroll through this thing for hours and never get bored. 

Bianca cleared her throat. "We've been working on making them more detailed." She looked slightly smug. "Of course, I helped contribute to it quite significantly."

Rosa whistled. "Wow, that's impressive."

Bianca blushed, pleased with herself. "Well, it wasn't just me. I had some help from my boyfriend too, and a couple friends."

"Still, you're only two years older than me." Rosa said. "Man, I spent the last two years wasting away while there were other people, _doing_ things. It just feels strange.

Nate curled his fingers into hers again. "Well, we have all this time now." He smiled crookedly at her. "Might as well do something with it."


	2. Like Being Torn Open By Something You Used to Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His face twisted up in a scowl again. “Tch, like I need any of their approval anyway.”
> 
> “…That sounds lonely.” Nate said quietly.  
> \- - -  
> Aspertia City -----> Floccesy Ranch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for:  
> Emetophobia  
> Violence  
> Stay safe everyone!

They ran into Hugh again near Floccesy Ranch.

Rosa was too busy cooing over the azurill to pay attention to anything else, so Nate approached him, Luna trailing after, waving her scalchop threateningly at the pidove and patrat.

“Oh! It’s you. Come to toughen up, huh?”

His snivy certainly seemed to be excited, giving Nate an impressive glare, and Hugh’s eyes gleamed with an unspoken challenge.

Nervously, he sent out Luna.

The biggest things they had fought so far were low level patrat and purrloin, but a battle with an experienced trainer where they had an obvious disadvantage? Ugh, this was going to suck.

“Um, Tackle!” He said, staring at Luna’s moveset in his pokédex, hoping that it would magically tell him how to strategize.

It did not, but Luna Hit Bromus dead on target, sending him stumbling back.

“Oh my gods that actually worked.” He muttered. “Uh, hit it again!”

Bromus was ready this time, using Luna’s momentum against her, and sending her crashing into a fence. Nate cringed, But Luna popped right back up and slammed into Bromus again.

“Um, tail whip and then tackle again!”

“Vine whip, keep her off-balance!”

Ah, yes, he forgot that Hugh was actually good at this.

Luna went down to two powerful strikes, but not before ramming her tiny little head into Bromus and landing a critical hit.

“Ah, good effort.” Nate said, and scooped her up before digging into his bag for a potion. Luna flinched away at the spray, hissing at him, and bared small, needle sharp teeth.

"Ohhh, you're so _big_ and _scary_ huh." Nate cooed. "Can't scare me you little brat." he said fondly. 

“You’re not a very good battler, huh?” Hugh said bluntly, letting Bromus crawl back up his arms to preen smugly.

“…No. No I’m not.” He said flatly. Nate fished a second town map out of his bag and tossed it at him. “Your sister told me to give that to you by the way.”

“Tch. She didn’t have to.” Hugh muttered, but there was a small smile on his face. “Thanks to you too.”

The sound of barking startled them, and Nate tensed, before whirling around. There was a couple approaching them, a herdier in between them, and it’s tongue lolling out of it’s mouth.

“Oh, I was wondering what all that commotion was about!” The woman laughed. “This is a rather popular spot for beginner pokémon trainers, so train as much as you want. Just don’t bother the wooloo, they’re here from special import.”

“Wooloo?!” Rosa exclaimed, appearing out of nowhere. “Where?!”

“Oh, um, just over in the barn.”

Rosa turned to Nate and gripped his shoulders solemnly. “You know what I have to do.”

“But…Rosa…” Nate gasped.

“I’m sorry Nate…But I need to pet those wooloo.” She said grimly. “Tell Mom I love her.”

“Gods you’re both so weird.” Hugh muttered.

They both stuck their tongue out at him.

“Bye Nate! Message me before you leave!” She patted him on the cheek like a grandma, before running to the barn, ignoring the weird looks the couple was giving her.

“Please believe when I say she’s older than me.” He said to Hugh with a long-suffering expression.

He snorted, his lips curling up into a smile. “Sure.”

“By the way,” The woman’s husband piped up. “You haven’t seen another herdier around here, have you? They’re always together, but he seems to have wandered off somewhere. We’re a little worried.”

It was like flipping a switch. Hugh’s smile dropped almost immediately in favor of stricken, angry expression. “A little worried? Are you KIDDING me?!”

Nate stumbled back, suddenly very nervous.

The woman regarded Hugh with a pitying expression. “Ah, I understand. You’re the Carmine’s boy, aren’t you?”

_Carmine’s boy?_

Hugh looked like he wanted to snap something back, but he took a deep, shuddering breath and slowly unclenched his hands. “Whatever," He said coldly. "I’ll go look for it.” He turned to Nate. “You and your sister should help too, it’ll be easier with more people.”

He stomped off, muttering under his breath, and Nate relaxed. His Xtransceiver buzzed with a message.

**Chatlog between ROSA CAMILA and NATE ARATA**

**ROSA CAMILA is online!**

**NATE ARATA is online!**

RC: Gods these names are boring

NA: Change them then

RC…

NA: what?

RC: I didn’t know you had a last name

NA: what are you talking about, of course I have one

NA: oh

NA: I see

RC: nvm, I’ll bother you abt it l8r

RC: I heard yelling, is everything ok??

NA: I guess? Hugh got really mad about a missing pokémon so I’m helping him look for it

NA: You can help if you want, but I’m not gonna make you do anything

RC: thx, imma pet all the wooloo

RC: good luck ig

NA: thanks I’ll talk later

RC: wait

RC: b4 u go

**ROSA CAMILA changed their name to floweringHeights**

**floweringHeights changed the chat name to “Two Idiots in Unova”**

**floweringHeights changed NATE ARATA’s name to underestimatedPedantic**

FH: 4 old time’s sake, y’know?

UP: yeah

**underestimatedPedantic is idle!**

A lump had formed in his throat and he tried to ignore the curious stares he was getting from the couple before moving farther into the ranch.

\- - -

_“I’ll be the hero if we can’t find one!” Rosa proclaimed, and moved to stand on a chair, her overlarge gray tunic swishing with every movement. “I’ll be the beautiful and powerful, Ms. Flower!”_

_“Rosa…” Nate chided. “Lord N is the hero, remember?”_

_I already know that. I’m 8, not dumb.” She said flatly, hopping down to join him on the beanbag. “I mean the hero chosen by the white dragon!”_

_Nate shot a frantic look around to ensure they were alone._

_“Rosa!” He hissed. “You can’t just say those things! I-i-it’s sacrilegious!”_

_“That’s a big word. I bet you don’t even know what it means.” She teased._

_“I-I do to! I heard one of the goddesses say it on time! It means that you said something evil and wrong.”_

_She deflated. “Oh. If the goddesses said it, then it must be true.” She perked up again. “But! I can be a pretend hero! And you can be my sidekick!”_

_Nate spluttered. “What? Why am I the sidekick?!”_

_“Fine, a partner than!” She dragged him to his feet so that they were standing side-by-side. “You need a cool name though…”_

_“Pedantic!” He blurted out, the first word that came to mind. He didn’t remember what it meant, but it sounded cool. “I’ll be the Incredible Pedantic!”_

_“Oooh, cool name!” She posed dramatically his hand clasped in hers. “We will fight for the ideals of our Lord N! Ms. Flower and the Incredible Pedantic!”_

_\- - -_

“Gods, the stupid s-shit we did as kids.” He muttered, but a small smile had crept over his face.

Luna glanced up at him curiously, before becoming distracted with a particularly mean looking patrat and charging it with her scalchop held high. She cut it down easily, and it scampered off, whimpering. Her wounded pride restored somewhat Luna looked marginally happier.

“It’s okay to lose once in a while.” Nate said offhandedly. Luna paused, and looked up at him with her head cocked curiously. Nate knelt down so that they were at eye level. “I don’t expect you to be perfect every single time or anything.” He said softly. “I would be a pretty bad trainer if I did.” _I’d be everything they told me I’d become if I left._

Luna stared at him with an unreadable expression for a long time, long enough for him to start sweating nervously. He wished that he could just…know what she was thinking, to hear what she was saying, just like—

“It’s not here, let’s go in deeper!” Hugh called, jolting Nate out of his thoughts. Shaking his head and scowling, he scooped up Luna and followed the sound of Hugh’s voice, where he was standing in front of a cluster of trees at the mouth of a small forest.

Nate caught up to him, and they both walked silently for a few moments, until Nate cleared his throat.

“She, uh, called you the “Carmine’s boy”. What does that mean?”

Hugh shot him a look, but it lacked any real annoyance. “My last name is Carmine. I’m a “Carmine boy” because they’re my parents.” He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Something happened a few years ago, so it’s not…really a term of endearment around here.” His face twisted up in a scowl again. “Tch, like I need any of their approval anyway.”

“…That sounds lonely.” Nate said quietly. He held up his hand to cut of whatever Hugh was about to say. “I mean it. When we first moved here, Rosa was the only one I had, and I was the only one she had other than her mother. I think I know loneliness when I hear it.”

“You really never left that house?”

“No.”

“That sounds like it sucked.”

Nate laughed humorlessly. “That sure is a word for it. I’m surprised I haven’t completely wasted away.” He ran a few fingers down his arm, where he circled them around his bony wrist.

“Nate…” Hugh said his name so softly, so _pityingly_ , he couldn’t stand it.

“Don’t talk to me like that.” Nate said, and the coldness of his tone almost made him falter. “I don’t want your pity. It sucked, but it’s over now. Ok?”

“…right.”

Nate sped up, leaving Hugh behind him.

\- - -

“Was I too mean?” Nate whispered to Luna. “I’m not exactly the greatest at talking to people, but I don’t want him to hate me. Just wanted him to stop asking questions.”

Luna shrugged, and made a weird bubbling sound before patting his arm in a placating manner.

Right then.

“I’m sure it was fine.” He muttered, but something nagged insistently at the back of his head. “It’s fine, it’s fine!”

 _“No, it’s not you fool.”_ A voice that sounded suspiciously like Rosa muttered in the back of his head. _“You suck at this.”_

Luna suddenly hissed loudly, startling Nate out of his thoughts.

“What’s up?”

Luna hissed again, much more aggressively than when Nate sprayed her with the potion earlier. Her ears were pulled back and her mouth was open wide, fully displaying a maw of sharp teeth. She flailed, and Nate almost dropped her before letting her down. She toddled unsteadily on her legs before finding her footing, and ran toward a back corner of the forest, hidden by a tall, thick patch of grass.

Nate grimaced. It had rained the day before, and every single patch of grass he and Rosa had walked through were completely bogged with mud. She complained about it for at least 15 minutes while walking through the route, dragging her feet, whining, the works. Nate complained twice as badly in retaliation, until Rosa threatened to push him into a particularly muddy patch.

Luna seemed to have no problem traversing it, her tiny feet making muddy footprints behind her as Nate tiptoed around as much of the mud as possible. His new shoes were ruined at this point, but he would rather die than get his socks wet.

When they finally made it through, Luna lunged at something Nate couldn’t see. He was about to call her back to her pokéball, when he heard the unmistakable sound of an adult man cry out in pain.

He rounded the corner, only for his muscles to suddenly lock up, and his eyes to widen as something icy cold trickled down his spine.

He was short but thin and wiry with a black face mask pulled up to his nose and wearing what looked like some kind of body suit padded with black armor highlighted with electric blue, and heavy militaristic style boots, one of them pressing down on the body of the herdier Nate was looking for.

Luna had her jaws clamped around his wrist, only to be wrenched off and thrown like a ragdoll, blood streaming from his arm like a fountain and his face twisted in an ugly scowl.

Finally kicking his body into action, Nate dove to catch her. Muddy clothes be damned before he let anything happen to her. He looked up to glare at the man, only for his eyes to catch on the logo over the man’s chest.

No.

No way this was real.

There’s no way—

Nate blinked, and it was still there.

No way. He was fatigued or something, there was _no way-_

The herdier whined, still pinned under the man’s boot, but the sound was hundreds of miles away, and all he could focus on was the sneer of a man bearing the crest of the devil.

Something hot bubbled under his skin, like it desperately wanted out, and he could feel his body temperature rising. He felt violent, he felt like something was ripping his insides to shreds, he felt his blood boil in his veins, he felt-

Nate felt angry.

The word came to him, finally putting a name to an emotion he hadn’t felt in 4 years. His fists curled, nails biting into his skin, and his jaw was clenched tight.

There wasn’t a lot he could do with it, however. He was scrawny, underweight from sitting in his house for so long, and his body was trembling from the strength of his emotions hitting him like a tidal wave. It was new, and raw, and he didn’t know what _to do with it._

So he did something stupid.

His body lunged before his brain could catch up with it, and caught the man around the neck, bringing him down, and releasing the herdier. He was pleasantly surprised it worked, only for his head to hit the ground _hard,_ and to get a fist in the face for his trouble.

Oh gods, his nose might be broken, he thought as something coppery flooded his mouth. He turned to the side and spat- yep, that was blood alright. He was so detached from everything, his brain only focused on hitting the man back, beating him into the ground with strength Nate didn’t have.

He couldn’t stop it, and it felt horrible, and he was drowning in it. Heat and anger swelled up in his chest as kicked, his foot landing a hit in the guy’s stomach, giving Nate the space he needed to crawl away.

The commotion had given the herdier time to stir up a fuss, barking loudly and clawing at the man Nate was previously wrestling with.

“Hey! You found it!” Hugh’s cut through the noise in his head. “I’ll go get the owners!”

“Fuck.” The man spat, throwing the herdier off of him. It took the chance to run off, leaving Nate cradling his face and glaring at the man who had straightened up and towered over his prone form.

_How dare you come back into my life when I just started piecing it back together—_

A foot sunk itself into Nate’s stomach and he coughed, more blood dribbling out from between his fingers from his leaking nose.

It hurt so _goddamn_ much but her couldn’t move. Belatedly, he realized that the man was saying something, but he was too out of it to hear a single word. His body lurched as another kick was delivered to his stomach. He waited tense for another blow, but it never came.

The man said something else, and Nate cracked his eyes open to see an ugly smirk on the man’s face as he dropped something light and flat on his back. His black boots retreated, until Nate was alone.

Nausea rolled around in his stomach as he weakly turned to the side before vomiting, his head swimming and pounding in time with his heartbeat. With a clumsy hand, he reached around to touch where he hit his head, and it came away slick with blood.

_That’s probably not good…_

_Where was Luna?_

_He hoped she was safe._

_Yeah, as long as she was safe, as long as Rosa was safe…_

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_Nate fainted!_

_._

_._

_._

_._

\-- -

Waking up was a chore.

Someone was calling his name and shaking his shoulder insistently. Nate grumbled something in response, chasing the last dredges of sleep. His body felt so heavy and his head felt like it was cracked open like an egg, his brains spilling out all over the ground.

They called his name again, and his eye was pried open painfully, giving him a brief glimpse of Hugh and Rosa hovering over him.

“Nate!” Rosa yelled, tears leaking from her eyes as she held his face in her hands.

“R‘sa?” He slurred. “Wha’ h’ppned?”

She sobbed in relief. “Nate! Gods, when I saw you I t-thought—!”

“Not dead.” He mumbled again, and laughed dryly. “G’nna take more ‘n that.” His laugh turned into a hacking cough that shook his entire body.

“The air lift is coming soon.” Hugh interrupted, his face ashen. “Is that audino his?”

_Huh?_

Nate craned his neck and caught a glimpse of pink. Two soft arms encircled him, and he was pulled flush against the firm chest of an audino. It started humming lowly, and the sound reverberated in his chest making him relax. Two long tendrils that were curled around his biceps unwrapped themselves and retracted. It made another low humming sound, and warmth flooded his body, numbing the worst of the pain.

Nate’s head felt clear enough for him to sit up slowly, the audino kneeling behind him and supporting him.

Rosa was still babbling, and his face still cupped in her hands.

The beating of huge wings prompted them all to look up. A braviary descended with a ranger on it’s back, dressed in black and red with a rope slung over her shoulder.

“Agent Marceline Harper, pokémon ranger.” She said, flashing a badge. “I got a call about someone being hurt?”

“It’s my brother, Nate,” Rosa said, standing shakily. “He went missing a-and I found him like this with an audino!”

“W-we were looking for a missing pokémon.” Hugh mumbled. “I thought Nate found it, but the herdier showed up without him…”

Rosa glared at him, and it struck Nate that they probably got into a fight while he was indisposed.

With a glare of his own, Hugh hoisted Nate up by his arms and slung one over his shoulder. Rosa hurried and threw the other one over her shoulder, glaring just as fiercely.

Marceline studied them all with a strange look. “I see…when did you see him last?"

“Around 12:40-ish.” Rosa said before Hugh could say anything. “I texted him around 1:00 but he didn’t answer me, so I got a little worried and asked Hugh where he went off to.” Her eyes flashed sharply. _“However,_ he didn’t know where he went either even though he was the one—

“You’re not the only one who was worried!” Hugh burst out, his grip tightening on Nate’s arm. “I thought he was dead when I found him!”

“Boo hoo, you drag my brother around the woods only to lose him and let him get beaten half to death!” She growled, her hand also tightening.

“Stop it!” Nate snapped, and wrenched himself out of their grip, stumbling into the audino. “Sorry.” He muttered to it.

“Dino.” It said placidly, patting him on the arm.

Nate straightened up with some difficulty. “It was neither of your faults.” He said stiffly, looking both of them in the eye. “Stop. Fighting.”

Rosa stared back, and a silent conversation passed between them.

_It’s his fault!_

_No, it’s not._

_He was the one who made you go with him in the first place! If he hadn’t—_

_If he hadn’t, we wouldn’t have found that lost herdier._

_At the cost of a broken nose!_

_We’ll talk about this later…Please._

Rosa deflated. “Fine.” She turned to Hugh. “I’m sorry, I know it wasn’t your fault, I was just looking for someone to blame.”

Hugh looked stunned, like she had slapped him rather than apologize. “Uh, yeah. No problem.”

Nate swayed on his feet. “Cool. Someone please take me to the hospital now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Party 1: Nate  
> Oshawott: Luna lvl 14  
> Audino: Arty lvl 13
> 
> Party 2: Rosa  
> Tepig: Eliza lvl 10  
> 
> 
> "Wow, I'm so motivated and focused! Surely, nothing can go wron--" *persona 5 hyperfixation hits me over the head with a bat*
> 
> Nate's scene where he lost his shit is v cathartic, mainly bc i used to have/am recovering from anger issues. My worst episodes definitely felt something like that and i wanted to scratch my skin off bc i didn't have anywhere to direct my emotions. Shit sucks, but therapy helps a lot.  
> I'm also taking the chapter count off because this is becoming a l o t longer than I thought it would
> 
> [ yell at me on twitter](https://twitter.com/om_icron) [ or hmu on tumbr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/aux-iliatrix)
> 
> 1/4/21: Ok, i don't know what the fuck happened, but the chapter order got messed up somehow. Sorry about that!  
> 


	3. My Impulses Were Never Clear Anyway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She swallowed, something caught in her throat as she stared down Gym Leader Cheren.  
> “Are you ready?” He asked.  
> “Do your worst.”  
> -  
> Aspertia City - - - - > Virbank City

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [door slams open] ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN USER CASS_IOPEIA WHY IS THIS CHAPTER SO LATE  
> [gestures vaguely towards current events in the united states and the three classes im failing] 
> 
> brief warning for slightly traumatic flashbacks, and hospitals. Stay safe!

Rosa paced the length of the waiting room, muddy footprints following her.

The receptionist gave her a venomous glare, but she could hardly spare enough to give her a single thought, too wrapped up in her anxiety. Her teeth were worrying at a bloody spot on her lips, her cuticles already bitten down long ago.

She really wa _ sn’t  _ angry with Hugh, but seeing Nate curled up on the ground, blood spattered over his clothes, not moving— can you really blame her for thinking the worst?

The audino from the forest was sitting next to Hugh, talking softly to the nurse’s audino. Hugh was hunched over, his eyes glazed over with fatigue as he scrolled through his phone, and Nate’s trainer belt spread out on his lap.

There was a second pokéball there that they found when he got lifted to the hospital, for the audino, or “Arty” as it said in his party description.

_ Audino, lvl 13 Male _

_ Known moves: Pound, disarming voice, helping hand, play nice _

_ Quiet Nature _

“Roselia Camila?”

She perked up to see a nurse standing by the door. “You can come see him now.”

A wave of relief hit her. “How is he?” She asked, moving toward the door.

“Stable. His concussion is pretty mild, and he’s sustained some bruising to his ribs, but he should be fine.” He said, leading her toward a room labeled “34b”. “I told him this already, but I don’t recommend that you two move on to Virbank for a few days until his bruising has faded. Gym battles are fine, but nothing strenuous.”

“That’s a relief.” She muttered.

Nate was asleep when she walked in, his mouth slightly open and snoring. Something nudged her side, and she jumped in surprise to see Arty toddle past her and seat himself in the chair next to the bed. Hugh entered next, looking uncomfortable, his face buried in his jacket collar and his hands jammed in his pockets. Bromus was curled around his arm, his small fingers hooked in Hugh’s zipper.

“I’m glad he’s okay.” Hugh muttered, and dropped Nate’s belt in her hands. “I’ll come by tomorrow.” Her turned to leave.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, making him freeze. “Why do you look so…upset?”

Hugh retracted his hand and shoved it back in his pocket. “M’ not.”

Rosa’s eyes narrowed making him shuffle uncomfortably. “You look like a squirtle retreating into it’s shell. What’s wrong?” She pressed.

Hugh looked like he was about to snap something back, before he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, obviously restraining himself. “I Feel guilty.” He grit out. “You were right, this is my fault.”

Oh.

A wave of monumental regret washed over her. She had no idea that her words had cut quite that deep.

“I didn’t mean any of that.” She said, and placed her hand on his shoulder, making him stiffen. “I’m sorry that I upset you that badly.”

“…Sure, whatever.” He muttered, but his expression had softened slightly. Bromus made a soft sound before crawling up his shoulder and disappearing into his jacket collar.

Hugh reminded her of an older Nate, she realized. Two stupid, stubborn boys who didn’t know when to quit.

“Hey, gimme your Xtransceiver for a sec.” She said, dropping her hand from his shoulder.

“Why?” He was back to glaring again, but it lacked any real heat.

“Because I wanna keep in touch, duh.” She said, before snatching his wrist up. “I’ll give you Nate’s number too.”

“You think I could stop her?” He muttered, sticking his face into his collar with an amused look. Bromus made a strange cooing sound in response, a small green hand coming up to tap him lightly on the side of the face.

“Nope.” She said, popping the p, and typed her number into the chatlog app, before selecting her username. “I’ll be outta your hair now.” She said, releasing his wrist, and sinking into the chair next to Nate’s bed. “G’night, Hugh.” She yawned and started pulling her hair down. “I’ll be here till they kick me out.”

He waved, before disappearing down the hall.

The room was eerily quiet when he left, the only sound being the sound of the heart monitor Nate was hooked up to, and his snoring. She sighed, and turned her Xtransceiver on before selecting a chatroom.

**Team Plasma Trauma Bonding Anonymous**

**6:54 pm**

**Moderator(s): pikachuAppreciator, hellishPastels**

**Pinned Message: [link: https://globalchat.rulesTPTBA.co]**

**floweringHeights is online!**

FH: Hey, I finally got a Xtransceiver! any of you awake?

**colonClosedbracket is online!**

CC: That’s so cool Heights! Are you on your journey?

FH: Yep! Me n my brother Just left town a few hours ago

FH: Actually, that’s the reason I’m on here

FH: I really need to vent. Is that ok?

CC: ofc!

FH: So I just had to send my brother to the hospital after he got attacked. No one knows what happened, and the only reason his concussion isn’t freaking terrible, is because an audino happened to find him and catch itself.

FH: I’m just,,,, really freaking out.

CC: Is he alright???

FH: Yeah, thanks to the grace of arceus themselves

FH: Like it said, the only reason he’s even stable is because of the audino

FH: but yeah, im at floccesy general hospital rn

FH: We have no health insurance lol

CC: wait, rlly???

CC: Dude, I live there!

FH: fr!!!???

FH: HOLY SHIT WE SHOULD MEET UP!!!

FH: YEAH!!!!

FH: I CANT WAIT TO MEET YOU <33333333 /p

CC: I work at the general store, and I get off around the time visting hours end. Wanna meet at the clock tower?

FH: Yes!!!

CC: Ahhh, I can’t wait to put a face to the username

FH: see you soon!

**floweringHeights is offline!**

- \- -

Rosa pulled her jacket tighter as she anxiously stood on her toes, looking for Colon. She had wrestled her hair into a scrappy looking ponytail before being firmly ushered out of Nate’s room by one of the nurses, and had a giant mess of bobby pins jingling in her pocket.

Her Xtransceiver pinged.

**Private messages between colonClosedbracket and floweringHeights**

**8:24 pm**

CC: What does your jacket look like

FH: Light pink and puffy

CC: I see you!

Rosa looked up, and locked eyes with a girl standing a few feet away, with short wavy black hair, several facial piercings, and gray eyes that lit up in recognition. As she hurried closer, Rosa could see that she was wearing a heavy-looking leather jacket covered in patches, and fishnets under her ripped jeans. Three scars were lashed across her face, one over the bridge of her nose, one on her cheek, and one running right through her left eye.

“Colon?” She asked hesitantly.

A wide smile broke over Colon’s face, and Rosa was swept into a tight hug that smelled like cigarette smoke and flowers.

“Holy shit! Heights!” She exclaimed, before setting Rosa on her feet again, her hands still gripping her biceps. I can’t believe it’s you!”

Rosa giggled. “It’s good to see you too, Colon.”

“It’s Chloe.” She said, “Chloe Natalie.”

“Roselia Camila. Call me Rosa.”

They both shuffled awkwardly, looking for something to say, other than “It’s you!” for the thousandth time.

“S-should we go do something?” Chloe asked, laughing nervously. “There’s a good diner around here, and we can properly talk and stuff?”

Rosa smiled. “That sounds great.”

They made small talk as they strolled around, Chloe’s arm around her shoulder pleasantly warm and solid. Rosa was giddy with excitement at the fact that she was meeting one of her friends for the first time outside of a chatroom.

Chloe was the first person she’d ever reached out to about her experiences with Team Plasma, and she was shocked to learn that there were other people out there like her and her family, people who had barely escaped.

She will admit, it felt too good to be real.

For a while at least.

Chloe was kind, and listened to her, and slowly, they learned about each other. As Rosa slowly opened up about her and Nate, Chloe told her about her old job as a pokémon smuggler for Plasma, and how she eventually escaped with her partner, an old delcatty named Darling.

“It’s amazing.” Chloe said once they were seated, and Rosa had brought out Eliza to sit in her lap. “I seriously never thought that I would run into  _ you  _ here…” Her brows furrowed. “Gods, you’re even younger than I thought you’d be.” She ran a hand down her face. “I mean, it’s around the same age I was able to get out of there but still…it’s strange to see it sitting across from me at the local diner.”

A waitress came and went, Chloe ordering for her when Rosa froze up under the waitress’s stare.

“Sorry, hope you like omelets at 10pm.” She said sheepishly.

“Y-yeah, it’s fine!” Rosa reassured her. “I just wish…”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Chloe said softly, taking a sip of her soda. “I was really bad at talking to people for a while too.

Rosa smiled gratefully. “Thanks Chloe.”

Their talks eventually divulged into pokémon training, and Rosa sheepishly admitted that she had close to no idea on what to do.

“I’ve seen a few tv battles in my time, and they just have this, I don’t know,  _ energy _ when they battle.”

Chloe hummed, taking another sip of her soda. “Being a professional trainer is a lot harder than people think it is. It’s not just a skill, it’s a talent that takes years of mastering to get the hang of. Take Champion Cynthia from Sinnoh for example. She is a classic case of a veteran. She’s poised, ruthless, and strategic.” She gestured with her other hand. “Now let’s take someone like, I don’t know, Champion Iris. That girl was raised around pokémon since she was a child and known as “the girl who knows the hearts of dragons”. Not to mention how young she is. She’s a very rare example of someone who was born with the talent.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“I’m sa _ ying  _ that pokémon battling doesn’t come naturally like people think it does. It takes a lot of work to move your way up from rookie, to someone who can hold their own.” Chloe sighed. “I guess I’m trying to say, don’t worry about it if you’re not getting the hang of it yet. I didn’t even know battling  _ had  _ an actual culture outside of P-word Propaganda.”

“What about you?” Rosa’s dinner was long gone by now, her plate practically licked clean. “Are you any good at battling?”

Chloe shrugged with infuriating vagueness. “I suppose you could call it that. I can certainly hold my own if that’s what you mean.”

“Teach me.”

The words slipped out of Rosa’s mouth, her traitorous lips opening of their own accord. She opened her mouth to take them back, only to pause. It wasn’t like there were any other options, were there? Rosa sucked at being a trainer, plainly and simply. She needed all the help she could get.

Chloe stirred her empty glass with her straw, coaxing a piece of ice out, and popping it in her mouth. Her white teeth flashed, flecked with tiny pieces of her red lipstick, and Rosa heard the crunch as she chewed it in thought.

“I’m not really a teacher…” She muttered.

“Please.” Rosa reiterated. “I want to be able to support my brother, and I can’t do that if I can’t even raise my pokémon properly!” Her hands were gripped solidly around her glass of water, the condensation making her hands slick with water.

Chloe gave her a probing look and popped another ice cube in her mouth. Finally, she sighed, and dragged a hand down her face. “Fine. But don’t expect anything amazing out of me or anything. Everything I know about battling comes from the battle channel and Loudreddit forums.”

Rosa beamed.

-

“Alright…” She frowned. “How exactly do I…?”

“Just walk around until something attacks you two.” Chloe drawled, Darling trailing after her. “Lots of young pokémon are always itching to fight.”

It was the next morning, the sun low in the sky, Too early to go visit Nate. So instead, Chloe had let Rosa sleep over at her cramped apartment, after messaging her mom. She was less than pleased about it, and only after extracting a dozen promises that Rosa would leave if anything made her uncomfortable, did her mom finally relent.

_ “By the white dragon, you two are going to drive me into an early grave. First Nate ends up in the hospital, and now you’re spending the night at the house of one of your ‘internet friends’.” She bemoaned. _

_ Rosa grimaced, and laughed nervously. “Well when you put it like that…” Her mom sighed over the phone again. _

_ “Gods, you better come home safe.” She said. “Call me if you need anything.” _

Something at Rosa’s feet growled, making her jump. A purrloin was glaring at her, it’s tail swishing as it eyed Eliza with a concerning amount of desperation and… _ hunger. _

“Oh, perfect.” Chloe grinned.

Eliza jumped in front of Rosa, pawing at the ground threateningly. They circled around each other, until the purrloin lunged, sharp claws raking across Eliza’s back.

Eliza squealed and backed away, looking up at Rosa for help.

“Uh, tackle it!” She stammered.

But Eliza moved too slow, and the purrloin leaped again, claws poised dangerously.

A memory played in her mind, of a wild liepard stalking it’s prey, it’s green eyes glittering predatorily as it lunged at a helpless patrat, breaking it’s neck with brutal efficiency before dragging it’s corpse away.

Eliza was going to die right in front of her.

Fear paralyzed Rosa, her knees locking up as everything slowed down to a crawl, her jackrabbit heart beating in her chest as she stared with horror.

“Darling, play rough!” Chloe yelled, before spinning Rosa around by her shoulders to face her. “Snap out of it!” Chloe’s voice sounded like it was underwater.

The delcatty rammed the purrloin hard, sending it skidding into a tree, before it whimpered pathetically and ran off.

Chloe shook her gently. “Hey, hey. You’re alright. Eliza’s alright. I won’t let anything happen to you two, ok?”

“O-okay.” She took a shaky breath. “I’m fine now, I promise.”

Chloe studied her, before reluctantly releasing her, patting down her jacket like a worried mom. “Alright. Let’s move on.”

Eventually, Rosa was able to get the hang of it, under Chloe’s constant nagging.

“Be more confident! Your pokémon can sense when you’re nervous.” She insisted. “If you’re confident, they’ll follow.”

“Stand up straighter! And be louder! My gods, you sound like a little pichu!”

“Your throw is horrible. Try angling your wrist like this.”

Finally,  _ finally,  _ Rosa could do it perfectly to Chloe’s satisfaction, her chest puffed with false bravado, and her voice devoid of nervous ticks or awkward pauses.

“Ha! We’ll make a trainer out of you yet, right Darling?”

Her delcatty purred and rubbed it’s head against Chloe’s leg, who scratched it fondly behind the ears.

- \- -

Nate woke up slowly, prying his eyes open, his head hurting in two places and his ribs aching. Gently, he touched his face, to find his nose taped up, but thankfully no longer gushing blood. Numbly, he sat up, finding himself wearing a hospital gown, his clothes folded neatly on a nearby chair with his Xtransceiver sitting on top of them. According to the clock, it was 5 in the morning, which would explain why he felt so shitty.

Blearily, he crawled out of bed, and shivered at the cold draft, realizing that he was kind of, really naked under that hospital gown.

Embarrassed, he quickly got dressed, and pawed through his bag looking for…aha!

Two pokéballs clicked open, releasing Luna, and the audino that had saved him. Apparently, his concussion-addled brain decided that the name “Arty” was good enough, and he suppressed a guilty wince. He should’ve asked him first before he put it in. As soon as Luna saw him, she immediately started yelling, squeaking out shrilly, and hitting him in the shin with her scalchop while Arty watched impassively, intervening only when her hits started to hurt.

He crouched down, careful to not jostle himself too much and bowed his head. He couldn’t see her anymore, but he could feel her tense, drawing back in confusion.

- _ \- - _

_ Nate stood tall, easily towering above the other kids his age. At his back, Rosa clutched at the tail of his shirt, her other hand at her mouth, no doubt biting her cuticles into a bloody mess. Nate would help her clean up later. _

_ “Presenting!” One of the attendants shouted. “Bow in the presence of Crown Prince Natural Harmonia!” _

_ They both hinged at the waist, Rosa trembling with nerves as they stared at the marble floor. Not daring to look up, they heard the soft sound of The goddesses’ gentle footsteps in their soft satin slippers, and the sweeping sound of the heavy fabric of Lord N’s heavy white cloak. _

_ Rosa’s hand dropped from his shirt, to his hand as N passed by, Nate catching a glimpse of the hem of his robe. _

_ To their collective horror, he paused, turning to face them. _

_ “Rise.” _

_ It was a soft, wisp of a voice, but it had the effect of a bullwhip, both of them snapping to attention, Rosa dropping his hand like it was on fire. _

_ He regarded them coolly, appraisingly, Nate’s skin pricking under his stare. He dared to peek up and caught a brief glimpse of large blue eyes bordering on green, bordering on grey, flitting between colors in different light. _

_ “…I remember you.” He said at last. “You, with the long brown hair.” _

_ Rosa flinched at the attention, as suddenly, dozens of curious eyes were boring into her. Nate desperately wanted to comfort her. _

_ “I-I’m flattered Lord N.” She squeaked out, flushing under the attention. _

_ “…Indeed.” He gestured to Goddess Concordia. “Bring them with us. I want to talk to them more.” _

_ “The boy too?” She asked softly. _

_ Nate could feel N staring at the back of his neck. “yes, him as well.” _

_ She inclined her head. “Very well. Come along you two.”” _

_ Nate was…stunned. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Every morning was routine: Wake up, dress, and shuffle into the hall as you watch Lord N and his entourage make his path through the Great Hall as he went about his duties, flanked by the goddesses. To think that he and Rosa had sparked some strange interest in Lord N…the break in routine felt exciting and nerve wracking all at once. _

_ He and Rosa trailed after him nervously, both of their hands worming their way back into an iron grip on the other. This was new territory, they had to be careful. _

_ “What are your names?” He spoke again, glancing at them. _

_ “R-Rosa.” She stuttered. “This is my b-brother Nate.” _

_ “Siblings? Interesting.” _

_ “We’re, um, not really related.” Nate said at last. “Um, uh, n-neither of us had anyone here when we first arrived.” _

_ N nodded. “I am glad you two were able to find each other then.” _

_ They lapsed into uncomfortable silence once again, as they passed room after room, after room, until they finally came to a stop in front of an old, wooden door with words carved on it that were too faded to read. _

_ “Anthea. Concordia. Please leave us.” _

_ The goddesses curtseyed. “Of course, Lord N.” And left. _

_ Silently, N opened the door, and they found themselves in a large clinic, the smell of anti-septic and the faint tinge of blood heavy in the air. Rosa immediately paled as she took in the sight, and Nate winced. She was usually assigned here for her daily tasks, wasn’t she? _

_ Today the room was fairly empty, save for a few occupied beds, but there wasn’t a single nurse on duty. Their footsteps echoed on the cold floor as N led them to the very back, where the incubators were set up in a neat row, machinery whirring with silent efficiency. _

_ Rosa inhaled sharply as she watched N casually open the top of one that was filled with shallow water and pulled out a delicate blue egg with a thin, fleshy membrane. _

_ “Do you know what this is?” He asked softly. _

_ “A t-tympole egg, my Lord.” She stuttered, her eyes never leaving it. “It was probably laid by a seismitoad or a palpitoad,  _ _ and you really need to put it back in the water _ _!” _

_ The last part was whispered frantically as she made an aborted reach for it before snapping her arm back. _

_ N stared at her again, and to her surprise, a small smile curled at the edges of his lips. “Well said.” _

_ With grace befitting the Crown Prince, N gently placed the egg back into the incubator, and some tension bled out of the hard line of Rosa’s knobby shoulders. _

_ “Any,” Nate wet his cracked lips. “Any reason you wanted to see us today?” _

_ “Hmm? Oh yes.” _

_ Nate’s heart leapt into his throat and Rosa swallowed a gasp as Lord N, the Crown Prince of Team Plasma bowed his head to both of them. _

_ “L-L-L-L-LORD N?!” Rosa screeched. “Wh-what are you doing?!” _

_ “Um.” Nate says eloquently. _

_ “First and foremost, I wanted to apologize. I seem to be someone you perceive as threatening.” He started. _

_ I also wanted to offer my respect. You seem to be someone who cares very deeply about the pokémon in our care.” His eyes flitted to Nate. “Both of you.” _

_ Rosa was blushing to the roots of her hair, dropping Nate’s hand so that she could fiddle with the hem of her shirt. Nate frowned. It was almost her 10 _ _ th _ _ birthday. She would be asked to start wearing the armor soon. _

_ “You flatter us, Lord N.” Nate said quietly. “But why…?” _

_ “Oh, everyone in this castle has my respect.” N said brightly, straightening up. “I’d bow my head to this egg if needed.” His eyes shined as he spoke, his words completely sincere. “Even my wonderful friends, I bow to them.” He smiled warmly. “we are not above them. Remember that.” _

- _ \- - _

“I’m not above you.” Nate echoed to the floor. “And I'm really sorry I put you through that.”

Luna made the approximate sound a question mark would sound like.

“I’m not gonna disregard your feelings on the matter. I’ll always listen to you two.” He paused and cracked a smile. “Well, maybe Arty more. He did save my life after all.”

Luna made an offended sound and cuffed him over the head.

-

**Chatlog between underestimatedPedantic and volatileNatrix**

**5:34 pm**

UP: Hey

UP: Hugh

UP: Hugh

UP: HUGH!!!!

UP: dude, get me out of here, they won’t let me leave the hospital without a chaperone signing me out

UP: And rosa’s probably asleep rn

UP: Dude answer your phone, you’re literally my only hope

**volatileNatrix is online!**

VN: Nate???

UP: the one and only.

VN: how’d you get my chat id???

UP: Rosa stuck it in my pocket for when I woke up

UP: so be a good Samaritan and get me out of here

UP: please

UP: sil vous plait

UP: por favor

UP:  どうぞ

VN: Oh my gods, shut up I’m on my way

UP: I can keep going

UP: oh nvm, thanks

UP: I’m in room 34b

UP: 😊

VN: Go fuck yourself

VN: also, what do you want for breakfast, I’m passing by the grocery omw there

UP: your attitude gives me whiplash

UP: ill take a bagel, thanks

VN: I’ll be there in 10

**VolatileNatrix is idle!**

-

-

**Two Idiots in Unova**

**5:41 am**

UP: I got a question

UP: you’re probably not awake

UP: but

UP: how likely is it that Hugh secretly hates me

- \- -

Hugh glared at him the entire time they were checking out, and he roughly shoved a bagel into his hands as they walked.

“…thanks.”

Hugh grunted.

It was a blustery March morning, the wind buffeting Nate’s hair and making it wilder that usual. Eventually, he gave up, and dug a hair tie out of his pocket, tying it back in a small ponytail to keep most of it out of his face.

“So—”

“Listen—”

“Sorry—”

“No, go ahead—”

“….”

“….”

Nate snorted. “Sorry, you can go.”

Hugh glared, but it lacked any emotion. He sighed. “I’m sorry.” He muttered.

“For…what?”

“For--! Everything!” he gestured widely to Nate’s face. “I shouldn’t have left you alone for that long! It was stupid, and you got sent to the hospital!”

“If this about anything Rosa said, I promise she was blowing everything out of proportion.” Nate said dryly, holding his hands out placatingly. “I’m fine now, aren’t I?”

Hugh huffed, annoyed that Nate wasn’t mad at him. “You’re not…angry about it?”

“No.”

“ _ Why _ ?”

“Wasn’t your fault.” He shrugged. “I don’t really remember what happened anyway.”

“Yeah…the ranger that picked you up thinks that you pissed off a riolu pack. Said the injuries matched up with previous attacks.”

Nate frowned. Riolu were never known to be particularly territorial. The libraries in Plasma were large but limited in their knowledge, but Nate was fairly confident in that assertion.

Huh, weird.

“We should train together!” Nate blurted, very tired of the stilted, uncomfortable silence. “Uh, y’know, since I’m not that….good…at battling?” He said weakly.

_ And I really want to be your friend! _

Hugh snorted. “That’s a word for it.”

Nate bristled. “Hey!”

Something close to a smile flitted over his face. Hugh’s jacket rustled at the collar, and he hurriedly unzipped it, to reveal Bromus wrapped around his neck like a very disgruntled scarf. His eyes narrowed haughtily as he recognized Nate, and turned his pointy nose up, clearly too good for him. He hissed something softly to Hugh who cocked his head, like he could understand.

“Um, Bromus is okay with it.” He muttered. “But I’m supposed to meet up with someone today. He said he’d help me train for when I challenge the gym.”

S _ hit, this is falling apart quickly. _

Nate laughed stiffly and pulled at the hair on the back of his neck. “That’s fine! I guess I’ll go track Rosa down, haha…”

_ You fool. You simpleton. You absolute buffoon. Truly a paragon of social interaction! _

“Yeah…later, man.”

“Hugh!”

A voice called, startling them out of their pathetic conversation. Nate turned and froze as a broad figure stood a few yards away.

“Hey there! I was just looking for you!”

Alder, no known last name, former champion, and Team Plasma Public Enemy Number One was standing in front of a large building, no doubt the town battle facility,  _ smiling _ at Nate like he was just some kid signing up for practice battles.

“A-Alder! Sir!” Hugh spluttered, zipping his jacket back up again. “Thank you for meeting with me!”

He laughed boisterously, unease crawling up and down Nate’s spine. “Not a problem! I love helping newbies.” His eyes flitted toward him. “Speaking of, who’s your friend?”

_ Sorry sir, I’m not his friend! I’m just some poor sap who yanked him around town for an hour, and I’m also a former member of Team Plasma— _

“Oh, this is Nate.” Hugh said, carefully extracting Bromus away from his neck without accidentally strangling himself. “I had to pick him up from the hospital earlier.”

“Hospital?”

Nate self-consciously traced over the bandages on his face. “S’ not that big of a deal.” He muttered, refusing to make eye-contact. “I’m fine now.”

Hugh waved, diverting Alder’s attention to himself. He probably sensed that Nate was getting uncomfortable with the questions. “Um, are we still on for today?”

Alder blinked at him for a minute before realization dawned in his eyes, and he snapped his fingers. “Of course! It’s not often someone as..spirited! Yes, someone as spirited as yourself takes such an intense interest in battling.”

Hugh flushed under the praise. “O-oh! Thank you…”

“How about your friend here though? I assume he’ll be battling as well!” Alder peered at Luna, who in turn, regarded him with a cool state. “And your oshawott! What a…”

Luna bared her teeth.

“…fighting spirit she has there!”

_ More like bloodthirsty. She and Bromus will be the death of me. _

“Well? Come on then, show me what you can do!”

_ Huh? _

“Huh?”

“Yeah, c’mon, man!” Hugh goaded, with the same gleaming expression of a challenge he had back at the ranch before Nate got jumped. “You c _ ould  _ use the practice after all…”

And that’s how Nate found himself strong-armed into the building, Luna snickering at him.

The facility was much cleaner that Nate envisioned, and smelled strongly of rubber and sweat. He resisted the urge to wrinkle his nose and peered around to inspect the hard-packed dirt outlined in chalk, where the battle lines were. A few kids were paired up, their pokémon scrapping and kicking up dust as their trainers hooted in delight.

Without ceremony, Hugh clapped him on the shoulder and trailed after Alder like a lillipup, who had set Nate up with a serious looking girl clutching a clipboard.

“Name?” She asked in a clipped tone.

“N-Nate Arata.”

“Age?”

“15.”

She mumbled something under her breath and scribbled something on her clipboard, before stowing it away, and pulling out a shiny quick ball. “Well, let’s see what you got, Arata.”

Nate swallowed, his throat suddenly very dry, and nodded quickly, before fumbling with his trainer belt and throwing out the first ball he touched.

Arty looked less than enthused to have been chosen first, but nonetheless took a fighting stance, looking back at Nate with obvious trepidation.

“Y—” Nate took a deep breath. All of the trainers he’d seen so far had one crucial thing in common.

“You got this!” He declared.

Confidence.

And hey, fake it ‘till you make it, right?

Nate could memorize type matchups, EVs, natures, and movesets in his sleep, but implementing them while his heart is racing 200 mph and his palms were sweating enough to drench his shorts when he wiped them off was another thing entirely. At least Luna knew what she was doing and sprayed him directly in the face every time he fumbled.

“This—” Nate spat on the ground, his mouth tasting like saltwater. “is so much harder than you make it look.” He groused. His hair was flat and sticking up in the back in an unattractive cowlick.

At least Hugh had the decency not to laugh at him when he turned up again.

“It took me a little bit to get the hang of. You just gotta…relax.” He said. Bromus nodded sagely before going back to beating up some poor kid’s patrat. “Like, dude, you’re wound tighter than a spring.”

Alder appeared out of nowhere, clapping Nate on the shoulder, and Nate had to suppress a full-body flinch. “It’s natural to be nervous your first few times battling. Believe me, when I was just starting out, I could hardly look my opponent in the eye!”

“Hahaha, yeah…” Nate said, sidling away as discreetly as he could, and stood beside Arty, who was in deep conversation with an old, weathered conkeldurr in the corner.

His Xtransceiver buzzed.

**Two Idiots in Unova**

**8:34 am**

**floweringHeights is online!**

FH: lmao, not at all

FH: dude’s too wracked with guilt to hate you

FH: why?

UP: I’m diagnosing him with emotional constipation

FH: LMAOOO

FH: Pot, kettle

FH: ur both freaking dense

**You can no longer send messages to underestimatedPedantic**

FH: DID YOU BLOCK ME????? OVER THAT????

**You can no longer send messages to underestimatedPedantic**

FH: ooooh, you’re so afraid of the truth, ooooh

**You can no longer send messages to underestimatedPedantic**

FH: brat >:(

**You can no longer send messages to underestimatedPedantic**

-

Nate smiled to himself and set it to silent, feeling slightly better. Bullying his sister always lifted his mood.

“Was that Rosa?”

He jumped and bit his tongue to stop himself from yelping. Hugh just… _ appeared  _ out of thin air next to his elbow, nosily peeking at his Xtransceiver. Reflexively, Nate did what he always did when Rosa was staring over his shoulder and jabbed his elbow out roughly, catching Hugh in the ribs.

Hugh stumbled back, rubbing where Nate had hit him with a startled expression.

“Man, just say it’s none of my business next time.” He grumbled, but there was no trace of malice when he knocked his foot against Nate’s shin in retaliation. He counted it as a win.

“Yeah, uh sorry. I’m just used to Rosa being the one getting that close to me.” He coughed, his face heating. “Thought you were her.”

Hugh nodded, absently studying him with an unreadable expression. “Sorry for, um, cussing you out over text earlier. You woke me up.”

“Huh?” he mentally ran through their last text conversation until his brain snagged on—

“When you told me to go fuck myself?” He inquired innocently, an impish smile starting to creep over his face.

_ Didn’t even stutter this time. Score! _

Hugh turned an alarming shade of red and snapped, “Yes, that! Shit, you don’t have to repeat it…” He trained off and kicked at the ground.

“Well it was  _ very  _ rude of you, sleep deprivation or no.” Nate hummed, settling into what Camila called, “Little Shit Mode”. He grinned. “But I appreciate the apology.”

Hugh looked slightly flustered at the sudden 180 in attitude. “Uh yeah, no problem.”

Hugh opened his mouth to say more, only for his Xtransceiver to start buzzing angrily. He cleared his throat sheepishly. “I…should probably check that.

-

**Chatlog Between floweringHeights and volatileNatrix**

**8:45 am**

FH: HEY

FH: TELL NATE TO UNBLOCK ME

FH: PLEASE

-

**Two Idiots in Unova**

**8:46 am**

UP:

FH: [Message sent from blocked account. Unblock this account to view the message]

FH: [Message sent from blocked account. Unblock this account to view the message]

FH: [Message sent from blocked account. Unblock this account to view the message]

FH: [Message sent from blocked account. Unblock this account to view the message]

FH: [Message sent from blocked account. Unblock this account to view the message]

UP: lol

-

**Chatlog Between floweringHeights and volatileNatrix**

**8:48 am**

FH: NEVER MIND, IM DONE BEING NICE ABOUT THIS

FH: NATE ARATA UNBLOCK ME OR SO HELP ME TRUTH I WILL TELL MOM THAT YOU WERE THE ONE WHO BROKE HER GLASS SWANNA FIGURE 

VN: Oh my gods, hold on

-

**volatileNatrix created a new chatroom!**

**volatileNatrix added floweringHeights to the chatroom!**

**volatileNatrix added underestimatedPedantic to the chatroom!**

VN: what.

FH: nate you better be able to see these messages

FH: I will make good on all of my threats

FH: but we should challenge the gym today

UP: lmao “message sent from blocked account”

FH: [ https://ibb.co/GpPdb8Q](https://ibb.co/GpPdb8Q)

VN: what the fuck

-

“Oh my gods, wait lemme see.”

Wordlessly, Hugh slipped his Xtransceiver off and handed it to him. He cackled before typing something out.

-

**Chatlog Between floweringHeights and volatileNatrix**

**8:52 am**

VN: lmao rosa

FH: NATE UNBLOCK ME

VN: totally down to challenge the gym btw. Im at flocessy’s battle facility w/ hugh

FH: I’ll be there around 12>>> >:((((((

-

After dodging around Alder for a while, and slowly learning how to get over himself, Nate felt ready enough to embarrass himself in front of a crowd of people as he challenges the new gym.

- \- -

Rosa stood outside, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for Nate. Chloe left to run some errands and said that they’d meet in front of the gym. So now, she’s waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting….

Wating……….

…..waiting…….

………..

Gods this is boring!!!

Feeling like her eyes were going to fall out of her skull, Rosa sidled as quietly as she could near a pair of kids around her age, who were talking in hushed tones. Childish gossip, but she would take all the entertainment she could get. Staring at her Xtransceiver as nonchalantly as she could, she tuned into their quiet conversation.

“…-Carmine’s boy.” One of them said, a girl with straight blonde hair and eyes shaped like almonds. “My mom told me that he’s kind of…” She pointed her finger at her head and twirled it, the universal sign for-

“Please, he’s not  _ crazy. _ ” The other girl scoffed, tossing back her shoulder length brown hair. “But he’s got some serious anger issues. Susan Shopmaker said that he punched a kid in the face for no reason.”

The blonde one scoffed. “it was grade school, everyone knows that one kid who flipped out at everything in grade school. And Susan Shopmaker’s full of shit.”

“ _ Yeah _ , but you didn’t hear about the time with his sister.” The brunette’s voice lowered, and Rosa strained her ears to listen.

“I heard that he lost both of their pokémon to Team Plasma—”

“Shhh!” The blonde shoved a finger to her lips. “You’re gonna get us in trouble!”

“Haha, probably tauros-shit anyway.” The brunette waved her hand, blasé. “Everyone knows nothing interesting happens in Western Unova.”

A wicked smile creeped over the blonde’s face. “Only thing interesting is how hard I’m—”

“Oh my gods don’t say it—”

“Doing your mom!”

“ERGH.”

The blonde cackled and dodged a playful swipe at her arm. “Doing your mom, every Sunday—SHIT!”

The brunette tackled her to the ground, and they both started rolling around in the grass, giggling and trading light blows.

Rosa however, had checked out of the conversation as soon as Team Plasma was mentioned, quickly plastering herself against the wall as her heart jumped into her throat, a little thrum of old fear shooting down her spine.

It was true what she said about Western Unova though. The only tourists that came down here trickled in from Virbank, or on rare occasions, from Castelia City. Locals looking for a break from the big city.

Again, a good place to lay low.

“Hey you two!” A voice boomed. “I told you about rough-housing!”

Rosa couldn’t see who was talking, she was tucked around the corner slightly panicking, but the inflection was oddly familiar.

“Fuck, not those two again…”

And that one.

Cautiously, she peeked her head around the corner to see Hugh and Nate, the latter looking much better than he did the night before. His face was still bruised, and his bottom lip was puffy at the corner, and he seemed to be favoring his left leg, but at least he was up and walking around.

And then she got a good look at the third figure.

Alder, whether intentional or not, had a very big hand in Rosa’s fucked up childhood, and she just wasn’t ready to open that can of worms yet. At least Nate seemed just as skittish as her, ducking around whenever he did one of those grandfatherly pats on the shoulder to Hugh, who was obviously eating it up.

Rosa rolled her eyes.

“Former champ here is giving me the heebie-jeebies, let’s get out of here.” Was all Nate said when she was in earshot.

“Agreed.” She said solemnly. “Do you remember colonClosedbracket by the way?”

“She was hilarious.”

“Yeah, well she  _ lives  _ here.”

“No way.”

“Yes way!” She punctuated this by shoving him playfully. “I ran into her last night, and we hung out this morning.”

“Dang Rosa, I’m happy for you. What’s her name?”

“Chloe Natalie. She’s goth and looks like she could break my arm.” Rosa sighed happily.

“You sound way too excited about that.” He tossed his gaze toward Hugh, who was listening to whatever Alder was prattling on about with rapt attention. “You coming with us?”

“Huh? Oh, no. I want to stick around here for a little bit.” Bromus growled from his spot in Hugh’s jacket. “I think Bromus has a taste for blood now.” He said with a weak smile.

Normally Rosa would pass that off as a pitiful attempt at a joke, but the predatory gleam in the grass starter’s eyes made her falter.

“Right….”  _ I want no part in this. _

Rosa hooked her arm around Nate’s and dragged him away.

“You…you’re not still mad at Hugh, are you?” Nate asked. 

They were back on route 19, Rosa stomping hard on the ground whenever anything got too close, sending many a patrat scattering at the sight of her.

“I wouldn’t say  _ mad _ —"

“Oh my gods you are.”

Rosa huffed. “I’m allowed to  _ worry _ about you Nathan.”

“Well I don’t need it,  _ Roselia _ .”

They stared at each other for a solid 3o seconds, not moving, not even to scare off a sewaddle that decided Nate’s shoelaces would make a nice snack.

Rosa looked away first.

“I know you hate being pitied, and I hate it too,” She began. “But it’s  _ not pity, _ you hopeless idiot.”

His eyebrow twitched, but he didn’t make any moves to interrupt her, prompting Rosa to continue.

“You. Are. Injured.” She punctuated each word with a poke to his forehead, that he swatted away, but a smile was creeping over his face. “Let me fuss over you for a bit.”

He rolled his eyes, but finally conceded. “Fine,  _ mom _ .”

“Don’t take that tone with me young man!”

An excruciating 2 hours later (Rosa didn’t want to say anything, but she was positive they could’ve been there in half that if Nate’s leg and ribs didn’t make him wince when he stayed on his feet too long, prompting them to take longer breaks.) they were finally back in Aspertia, both of them incredibly sweaty from the thick soup that was early-January humidity in Unova. Rosa’s never felt so fired up however, her fingers tapping atop her shorts as she walked, humming a burger jingle under her breath.

Chloe was standing outside the gym like she promised. She had her back to them, leaning against the statue outside of the gym, holding something against her lips as she tapped on her Xtransceiver.

“Hey Chloe!”

She jumped and tossed whatever she was holding to the ground before stomping on it frantically. She turned to face them, her mouth fixed in a nervous smile.

“HEY! Uh, I mean,  _ hey _ .” 

Chloe had ditched the jacket and was instead wearing ripped black jeans with fishnets underneath, a chain belt with a pair of handcuffs linking it together, a ratty grey long sleeve, heavy looking black boots, and her hair was teased mercilessly to look messy and wild. Nate looked slightly intimidated.

“Chloe Natalie.” She greeted with a disarming smile. Her lips piercings flashed in the sunlight.

“Uh, Nate.” He said, sticking out his hand awkwardly.

“Rosa’s told me all about you.” Chloe said and shook his hand firmly. “Nice to meet you.”

“She’s, um, like us.” Rosa explained as they pulled away. “She got away too.”

His eyes widened slightly. “Really? But you’re so much older…how’d you…?”

She grimaced. “A long childhood of doing some shady shit. I learned a thing or two, and eventually, I took a gamble and it paid off.” She shrugged. “Was about the same age as you two actually. It was…XX01 I think? XX02? The details are a little fuzzy.” She sighed before laughing sheepishly. “Anyway, who’s ready to kick Gym Leader Cheren’s sorry ass?”

- \- -

Eliza was fucking killing it.

Rosa easily mowed over the gym trainers, who each gave her a dirty look as she swept her way up to the wooden stage where Cheren was waiting, a strange look on his face.

“You know,” He said, clipping on a trainer belt with three pokéballs clipped on. “You remind me of someone.”

“I get that a lot.”

The air changed, electrified with a strange sort of anticipation. Rosa swallowed, something caught in her throat as she stared down Gym Leader Cheren.

“Are you ready?” He asked.

“Do your worst.”

Gods, she regretted those words, because even with a relatively low-level team, Cheren did not hold back. His first pokemon was a patrat that immediately put Eliza to work, using detect to dodge her flame charge, preventing her from building up speed. Don’t get her started on how much it spammed work up, Cheren very obviously trying to keep a smirk from creeping up his face. Finally, it went down, only to be swiftly replaced by a pidove with a scary glint in it’s eye.

Oh no, it had super luck.

Eliza was rightfully wary, tracking it with every jerk of her head as it circled lowly, until it lunged with lightning speed, ramming into Eliza so fast Rosa almost didn’t see it, and landing a critical hit. Great, quick attack, the only thing that could outspeed a flame-charge boosted Eliza. It wasn’t immune to a few tail whips though, and went down next to a hard tackle, Eliza pinning its wings to the ground.

Two down, one to go.

The final pokemon was a lillipup, a flash of blue in its fur indicating that it was also holding a berry. Rosa stifled a groan. Eliza was starting to look worn out, breathing heavily, but she stared down Cheren’s pokémon with a ferocious look while pawing at the ground.

Rosa pulled a small capsule out of her bag and clicked a button on the side before she tossed it onto the field, obscuring Eliza in a cloud of light purple mist. When it cleared, she had perked up, the potion returning some of her vitality and healing small wounds.

It wasn’t enough though. Eliza was still exhausted, and a few hits was enough to bog her down as she weakly charged again, flames curling feebly around her tail like a sputtering torch.

_ This is hopeless.  _ She thought grimly, as Eliza took another punishing blow. Just when Rosa was sure the lillipup would faint, it shook it’s fur out, a blue berry falling to the ground, and it devoured it hungrily.

Whelp, she had a good run. I guess it’s time to—

“ROSELIA ARDEN CAMILA SO HELP ME ARCEUS, GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR!” Chloe thundered making her jump. She was standing up in the bleachers, making some of the audience members glare at her, and Nate shrunk in on himself, burying his face into his hands, his shoulders shaking with what was hopefully laughter.

“LANDOROUS INCARNATE, DID YOU FORGET EVERYTHING I TOLD YOU?! PUFF YOUR CHEST OUT AND STAND UP STRAIGHT YOU ARC-DAMNED PICHU!”

Chloe’s eyes blazed like fired steel as she hollered, her chains clinking, and her piercings flashing like gunmetal.

Rosa’s head cleared for a moment, and she did as she was told, taking a deep breath, and straightening her back.

“GOOD! NOW KICK HIS ASS!”

Cheren pinned Rosa with a stern look, but his mouth twitched like he was trying to hide a smile. “Well?”

Rosa slapped her cheeks hard, the stinging sensation grounding her. “Yeah, she’s right. I’m being defeatist.” She muttered.

Eliza looked back at her with a determined look. With a start, Rosa realized that they were breathing in synch, their chests rising and falling at the same time. Her pokédex beeped insistently, but she ignored it, wrapped up in the moment. Time for her Hail Mary.

“Flame charge!” she yelled. Now or never, she supposed.

Eliza made a loud, feral sound, before she started glowing, red hot, enveloped in a column of fire. The wave of heat washed over Rosa like a furnace, her hair pricking as she squinted, her pokédex beeping louder. She pulled it out of her pocket and flipped it open.

_ Evolution Detected. _

Her eyes widened. Evolution!?

_ Pignite, the fire pig pokemon _

_ The more it eats, the more fuel it has to make the fire in its stomach grow stronger. This fills it with even more power. When its internal fire flares up, its movements become faster and sharper. _

_ Pignite learned arm thrust.  _ (Battle type: fighting)

The column of fire slammed into the lillipup, sending it careening back, and when the fire cleared, Eliza stood tall, and snorted, a stream of fire emitting from her nose.

“Arm thrust quickly! Before it can get up!” Rosa yelled frantically.  _ Now or never! _

Eliza, with maxed out speed, was a blur of orange as her strong arms slammed against it once, twice, three times, and the lillipup finally collapsed, spent.

Rosa won.

She tossed her pokédex hurriedly into her bag, and ran out onto the field, flinging her arms around Eliza, who radiates warmth like a hot water bottle. Eliza hugged back, making contented chuffing noises.

“We did it, we did it, we did it…” Rosa murmured over and over, tears pricking her eyes. Her first ever trainer battle, her first ever  _ gym battle _ , and Eliza  _ won _ .

“Congratulations Miss Roselia.” Cheren said, his fallen lillipup gathered up in his arms. “I do believe you’ve earned this.”

Slowly, he reached out and took her hand, before pressing a piece of metal into it. “The basic badge. You’ve officially taken your first step on the Unova Gym Challenge.”

“Rosa!”

“Rosa!”

Nate and Chloe ascended the stairs, Nate with a wide smile and Chloe waving an old-fashioned polaroid camera.

“I got a picture of her evolution!” She said excitedly, fishing a few pictures from her pocket. “They still need some time to develop, but I think they came out pretty good!”

“Yeah, that was really cool.” Nate said, kneeling down so that they were eye-level. “I’m a little jealous to be honest, my gym battle’s not gonna be nearly as cool.”

Chloe clapped him on the shoulder. “Chin up shorty, you literally just got out of the hospital.”

Pssh! I’m fine!” Nate said, standing up. He stretched his arms out. “See?”

Rosa reached up and dug her elbow into his ribs.

“Fuck!” he yelped, doubling over. Cheren politely pretended not to notice how all three of them flinched at the swear.

Limited mobility was obviously something Nate hated, and it was reflected in his significantly less full-bodied battling style. Where Rosa had made sweeping, dramatic gestures like an idol trainer, Nate mostly spent the battle making passive remarks and gentle, guiding movements with his hands, not unlike a conductor.

The lack of flashiness, however, Nate made up in sheer tenacity and a surprisingly ruthless strategy. He cleverly appealed to both of his pokémon’s strengths, letting Arty tank hits when Cheren spammed Work Up too much, and directed Luna on where to best unleash her seemingly endless amount of rage effectively.

For an audino of all things, Arty packed a hell of a punch, the power of his Disarming Voice practically nullifying any dark type moves thrown at them, and by the time he was too tired to continue, Cheren’s pidove was clinging onto the last dredges of consciousness. Luna cleaned up the rest, her scalchop a blur of movement as she mercilessly slashed at the lillipup.

“I really wasn’t expecting this…” Cheren muttered with a dry smile, recalling his fallen pokémon. “Seems I have a set of prodigies on my hands.”

Nate beamed as the badge was dropped in his hands by a bemused Cheren and pinned it to the strap of his bag. He piled mountains of praise on his pokémon, Luna curled up in his arms tiredly, and Arty preening as he showered them in compliments.

“You really are just like them…” Cheren muttered to himself. His eyes looked dangerously misty, so Rosa didn’t say anything, just stood with Eliza’s…(hand? Hoof?) In her grasp.

“Ah, I’ll see you to the next route.” He said, smoothing out a piece of hair, and herded them out of the gym, like they were an unruly group of his students.

The sun was setting, casting a beautiful orange glow on their surroundings, the houses glittering with old frost. To Rosa’s surprise, Hugh was waiting at the entrance, a pidove nestled in his hair. Rosa snickered. Hugh had enough hair to home at least two more. Nate coughed into his fist, hiding a laugh, probably thinking the same thing.

He caught their eye, and to her surprise, he smiled smally, and made a beeline to Nate.

“Didja win?” He demanded.

“Of course, I did!” He said incredulously, and practically shoved his bag in Hugh’s face. “Look.”

“Don’t have to push it in my face.” Hugh grumbled, and shoved him away roughly.

Rosa still wasn’t quite over her anger from Floccesy Ranch, and glared at him viciously, only to hear Nate stifle a laugh. She whirled around to see that Nate was grinning widely, not put off at all by Hugh’s attitude. Rosa’s eyes narrowed. What happened yesterday?

“You mad I got here first?” Nate prodded, his grin sharpening. “It’s okay, I guess I’ll just be the stronger out of the two of us.”

Hugh glared. “Fat chance. You probably just got lucky.”

“Your words cut deep.”

“Good.”

They both glared at each other, their mouths twitching, until Nate snickered, and they both dissolved into laughter.

“Boys.” Chloe drawled, pulling a sleek silver case out of her pocket. Her mouth quirked at the corners slightly, and she waved blithely. “Well, later guys, I have grown-up stuff to do.”

“W-wait!” Rosa stuttered. “I…when will I see you again?”

Chloe laughed, and the air seemed to warm several degrees. “Just call me whenever! I’ll come if you need help, anytime.”

Rosa started at her retreating back, a strange knot of emotions taking residence in her chest. As quickly as Chloe had appeared in her life, she was gone. Yes, she wasn’t gone for good (Rosa’s Xtransceiver was heavy on her wrist) but it felt…weird.

Nate sidled up next to her and stared at Chloe with her before finally breaking the silence, “Dude, she’s like, 35. Gross.”

Rosa furrowed her brow. “She’s 22 Nate. And what does that have to do with anything?” 

He quirked an eyebrow at her. “You seriously couldn’t tell? El-em-ay-oh, and you call me dense.”

Her eyebrow ticked, starting to get annoyed, and also steadfastly ignoring that fact that he said  _ lmao _ in a verbal conversation. “Dude, what?”

He leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. “ _ Duuuuude _ . You have a crush on her.”

She stared blankly at him for a few seconds as she processed what he said. And then her face bloomed in crimson.

“N- I DON’T!” She shrieked, shoving him away. “That’s a 7-year age gap! That’s disgusting!”

He raised a finger. “It’s only gross if she likes you back. Which she clearly doesn’t.” He gave her another one of his impish smiles. “Nothing wrong with having a little crush.”

Rosa shouldered her bag off, and swung it by the strap, narrowly missing Nate as he stumbled out of the way, squawking, “Hey!”

“I am going to beat you to death.” Rosa threatened, and wound up again.

“Ack! I’m sorry!” He cried as Rosa hit him again.

“Don’t ever bring it up then.” She said sweetly and wrapped him in a loose headlock. “And unblock my number you brat.”

Hugh shook his head and muttered something under his breath. Then his eyes caught on Cheren, who was talking to…Rosa blinked. Was Bianca there the whole time?

It was a terribly domestic scene, both of them blushing madly as they talked, Bianca holding Cheren’s hand between them tenderly. They looked very in love.

Rosa ignored the pang of jealousy in her chest.

Nate had dragged Hugh away, both of them talking about something stupid out of earshot, leaving Rosa…

Huh. She was alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Party 1: Nate  
> Oshawott: Luna, lvl 13  
> Audino: Arty, lvl 14
> 
> Party 2: Rosa  
> Pignite: Eliza, lvl 18
> 
>   
> Rosa: by the way, what does your username mean?  
> Chloe: :)  
> Rosa: How did you say that out loud 
> 
> ao3 let me format my images properly challenge, please im on my hands and knees 
> 
> Surprise! We're playing on hard mode baybee!  
> If you're confused, b2w2 introduced a feature that would allow you to change the difficulty setting after completing the game for the first time. This made the AI smarter, and increased how strong the gym leaders/elite 4 were, such as raising the level of their team, what type of pokemon were in rotation, and even what items they held. 
> 
> please pretend Cheren doesn't have the personality of stale bread, i am trying so hard here :(
> 
> When said persona 5 hyperfixation hit me over the head with a bat, i fucking meant it, and i spent all of december and january obsessing over it and ignoring everything else and Holy Shit! This chapter was excruciating because of it! I was so irrationally angry while previewing that i made it super long out of spite and spite alone. die mad about it <3 (I am talking to myself bc i had to edit this mountain of hot garbage)
> 
> when I say ignoring everything else, i also mean irl obligations. life has been hell and i want to bury myself in the yard.
> 
> But I digress, this is the notes section to a fanfiction, not a diary.
> 
> If you saw the chapter I accidentally uploaded before this one, no you didn't.  
> [ yell at me on twitter](https://twitter.com/om_icron) [ or hmu on tumbr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/aux-iliatrix)

**Author's Note:**

> Have mercy, for this is the first thing I've ever posted on this god forsaken website.  
> Meant to publish this earlier, but a previous hand injury started acting up, and severely limited the amount I could type. because of that, updates will most likely be kind of slow.  
> It's also like, 1 in the morning where I live so please let me know if there are any obvious mistakes!


End file.
